IPL 2022: Aakash Chopra on Rashid Khan and Rahul Tewatia's match-winning knocks for Gujarat Titans

Aakash Chopra lauded Rashid Khan for turning on the magic in the company of Rahul Tewatia to take Gujarat Titans (GT) to an improbable win in the IPL 2022 clash against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on Wednesday.

Khan smoked an unbeaten 31 off just 11 balls and strung together an unbroken 59-run partnership with Tewatia. The duo's enterprising efforts helped the Titans overhaul a 196-run target off the very last delivery.

While reflecting on the Titans' win in a video shared on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra pointed out that the team did almost the unthinkable. He elaborated:

"When Miller and Abhinav (Manohar) got out, I felt game over. But there comes Rashid Khan. Rashid is a karamati Khan. His bowling might not have been good but the way he batted, who plays shots like that? They needed so many runs in the last over and they scored that as well."

The former India player was also all praise for Tewatia for once again helping his team snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Chopra explained:

"Rahul Tewatia did a Tewatia one more time. He played a match-winning knock against Lucknow in the first match on the same ground, then the two sixes he hit against Odean Smith, and now here. So he has played three knocks already."

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Tewatia smashed an unbeaten 40 off 21 deliveries in a knock studded with four fours and two sixes. His 59-run partnership with Khan came off just 24 balls, just when it seemed Umran Malik had won the match for SRH by taking a five-wicket haul.

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"There was no better time than this" - Aakash Chopra on Wriddhiman Saha's explosive knock for Gujarat Titans

Wriddhiman Saha gave the early momentum to the Gujarat Titans innings [P/C: iplt20.com]

Aakash Chopra also had a word of praise for Wriddhiman Saha. He observed:

"When they (Gujarat) got to bat, they didn't lose a single wicket in the powerplay. For the first time, Hyderabad didn't pick up a single wicket in the powerplay. Wriddhiman Saha - every year he plays a knock that is match-winning, which stuns everyone and it has come now. There was no better time than this."

The reputed commentator pointed out that the Titans' wicketkeeper-batter held the innings together while wickets were falling at the other end. Chopra said:

"Shubman Gill started slowly and after that, a bad shot, out. Hardik Pandya out. You were stuck now, how will you score runs because after that is David Miller and where is the batting after him? So not only in the powerplay, Wriddhiman Saha continued to play well after that."

Chopra concluded by saying that Gujarat Titans, who are perched atop the IPL point table, are flying high and are likely to be the first IPL team to qualify for the playoffs.